Recently, the scanner and printer units of a digital copying machine can be used as a single-function scanner and single-function printer. In order to utilize the scanner and printer units of the copying machine, a scanner driver and printer driver as programs to allow a computer to use a printer and scanner must be installed in the computer. The printer driver and scanner driver have achieved advanced functions.
Many of functions provided by the advanced scanner driver and printer driver cannot be implemented when a single copying machine performs copying. For example, an Nin1 function of, e.g., “9 pages/sheet” (function of laying out images of nine pages on one print sheet) is provided by the printer driver, but is not supported by a current single copying machine. To use a function which is provided by the printer driver or scanner driver but not by the copying machine, an original document is scanned using the scanner function of the copying machine, and the image data is input to the computer. In the computer, print settings are made using the printer driver in order to print the input image data, and then, the image is printed using the printer. The user must execute this cumbersome operation.
There is also proposed a copying application which implements scanning and printing of an original document by a simple operation on a personal computer (PC) using a preset scanner driver and printer driver (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-345974 (pp. 8-9, FIGS. 3 and 4)).
In the above-described prior art, however, various copy settings for copying by a copying application must be made on the PC. For example, when a copying machine is connected to a network and located at a place distant from a PC, the user must go to the copying machine, set an original document there, come back to the PC, execute scanning and printing, then go back to the image processing apparatus, and bring back the original document and its copy. If the user does not know well how to make settings in the copying application, he cannot perform copying using the personal computer. Even if the user can perform copying, he must do a setting operation on the computer for copying, decreasing the copying efficiency.